Smarter Oral Care

Post navigation

Emergency surgery is necessary for people whose intestine has ruptured; intestinal rupture always results in infection of the abdominal cavity. During a diverticulitis surgery, the ruptured section is removed and a colostomy is performed. This means that the surgeon will create an opening between the large intestine and the surface of the skin. The colostomy is closed in about 10 or 12 weeks in a subsequent surgery in which the cut ends of the intestine are rejoined. Continue reading →

Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease particularly found in the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches (diverticula) on the outside of the colon. Diverticulitis results if one of these diverticula becomes inflamed. Continue reading →

What is Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)?

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that is related to the bacterium that cause tetanus and botulism. The C. difficile bacterium has two forms, an active, infectious form that cannot survive in the environment for prolonged periods, and a nonactive, “noninfectious” form, called a spore, that can survive in the environment for prolonged periods. Although spores cannot cause infection directly, when they are ingested they transform into the active, infectious form. Continue reading →

With these concepts in mind, let us review the histology of the periodontal pocket, especially in the area of tissue destruction and healing after the periodontal therapy instituted. The periodontal pocket is described as one which occurred with destruction of the supporting periodontal tissues. Progressive pocket deepening leads to destruction of the supporting periodontal tissues and loosening and exfoliation of the teeth. The suprabony pockets are those which the bottom of the pocket is coronal to the underlying alveolar bone. The infrabony pockets are those which the bottom of the pocket is apical to the level of the adjacent alveolar bone and the lateral pocket wall lies between the tooth surface and the alveolar bone. Continue reading →

The goal of Periodontal therapy is to halt the disease progression and prevent its recurrence, and restore the lost periodontal structure which occured as the result of the disease destruction. The later goal prompts us to evaluate the concept of “new attachment” or “regeneration”, and “reattachment” or “repair”. Each concepts will lead to different mode of periodontal therapy, and ultimately different result. New attachment is the ideal, desired goal, which each periodontist today are trying to achieve in every possible way. Continue reading →

Mandibular stock trays will sit on top of large mandibular tori, or at best scrape the lingual tissue covering the tori during the impression, again resulting in complications during the impressioning phase for any application. In the past, solutions included cutting down the lingual flanges to make them end superior to the mandibular torus, or to take a preliminary impression which was not seated fully and then from the model fabricated, make a custom tray and re-impress. Clinicians have also attempted to use maxillary trays to impress lower arches, however it is difficult if not impossible to retract the tongue to accomplish this procedure. Yung-tsung has suggested taking a maxillary tray, cutting out the palatal portion and adding utility wax to create a tray that will capture lingual tori. Until now, there has not been an easy solution for satisfactorily modifying a stock tray to impress a maxillary tuberosity, unless one removes the centre of a plastic tray, and most often it required a first impression doing the best one could clinically, and then following with a final impression utilizing a custom tray fabricated from the initial model. Continue reading →

Intra-oral bony growths of all types, present a clinical challenge for the dental team attempting to capture accurate detail for final impressions of crown and bridge, removable prosthetics, oral appliances, accurate opposing models, study models, and whitening trays. Stock impression trays often can’t be seated to depth, because they get hung up on these bony anatomical variants, or the bony protuberances can cause pain during the impressioning procedure, as there is often only a thin membrane of covering tissue which is easily irritated. Lingual tori may also limit the space for the tongue and can result in speech impediment. Even though these bony areas can create a clinical challenge with impressioning, these areas are prime sites for harvesting autogenous bone for bone grafting of dental implants and can be used for multiple reconstructive procedures such as nasal reconstruction. Continue reading →

Gardner syndrome which was ﬁrst described in 1953 consists of adenomatous polyps of the gastrointestinal tract, desmoid tumours, osteomas, epidermoid cysts, lipomas, dental abnormalities and periampullary carcinomas.The incidence of the syndrome is 1:14,025 with an equal sex distribution. It is determined by the autosomal dominant familial polyposis coli gene (APC) on chromosome 5. Continue reading →

In dentistry, precision attachments are the functional mechanical parts of the removable partial denture made of plastic, metal or a combination of both. Precision attachment partial dentures can be used to restore arches where there are not enough teeth for fixed bridgework. They consist of two parts referred as the ‘male’ part that is fixed to a crown inside the patient’s mouth and a ‘female’ part which holds the partial denture. The male is machined by the manufacturer to fit the female with such precision that any male out of the box will fit any female with an exact degree of accuracy. All of the precision attachments in a partial denture are positioned so that they are exactly parallel to each other. The patient can insert and remove the partial dentures and the aim of the precision attachment is to give the patient maximum comfort and ease while wearing, inserting or removing. Continue reading →

LINGUAL BAR WITH CONTINUOUS BAR INDIRECT RETAINER

SYNONYMS: KENNEDY BAR, SPLIT LINGUAL BAR, DOUBLE LINGUAL BAR

Indications:

1. Situations where the major connector must contact the natural teeth to provide bracing and indirect retention and there are open cervical embrasures which contraindicate the use of a lingual plate. There must be adequate space for the lingual bar portion of the major connector. Continue reading →